The quiet saboteur
You can set perfect OKRs and still watch behaviour refuse to change, because compensation, recognition and promotion are still paying for the old strategy. A sales team bonused on any revenue will not protect your focused where-to-play choice. A delivery team rewarded for output volume will not chase outcomes. Incentives are the strongest communication channel you own, and most organisations let them contradict the strategy.
Getting the system pointed the right way
- Audit what pay, bonus, recognition and promotion actually reward today, and list the contradictions with the strategy.
- Keep OKRs out of mechanical bonus formulas; coupling them to pay reintroduces sandbagging and kills ambition.
- Reward the behaviours the strategy needs: focus, cross-team commitment, honest reporting, learning.
- Make progression criteria echo the capabilities you are trying to build.
Incentive alignment is one of the management-system choices in Playing to Win\u2019s fifth question, and it is the one most often skipped.